Friar Pedro Shoots El Maragato as His Horse Runs Off

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes · c. 1806

Medium

Oil on panel

Original size

29.2 × 38.5 cm (11 1/2 × 15 5/8 in.); Framed: 41.3 × 51.4 × 6.4 cm (16 1/4 × 20 1/4 × 2 1/2 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Neoclassicism

This small but electrifying panel captures the climactic moment of a real-life drama — a Franciscan friar overpowering a notorious highwayman — with a sense of raw, almost cinematic urgency rarely seen in early nineteenth-century painting. Goya completed this work as part of a six-panel series depicting the capture of the bandit El Maragato by Friar Pedro de Zaldivia in 1806. The series is remarkable for its speed and freedom: each panel was painted with a loose, instinctive confidence that anticipates later traditions of action and narrative art. At a time when Goya was already losing his hearing and growing increasingly disillusioned with Spanish society, these panels show no sign of weariness — only fierce, controlled energy. The real Friar Pedro de Zaldivia was widely celebrated across Spain after the event, and Goya's series made that story permanent, turning a roadside confrontation into something closer to myth. Our hand-painted oil reproduction honours the spontaneous quality of the original — the gestural brushwork, the compressed drama, the dusty palette of ochres and greys — giving you a faithful, handcrafted version of one of Goya's most unexpectedly gripping works.